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Upper East Side, I secretly love you.

I'm a Village girl, always have been since I was first introduced to Manhattan but for the past few years I've had a secret love affair with the Upper East side. I wanted to share some photos I took recently in Anthropologie. I had never been inside the actual store after browsing their website for years but this branch is particularly impressive as it used to be a movie house! So neat!

 

I loved all of the rooms and this store is two huge floors to roam around. I think I was in here for a good hour and could have stayed longer had I not been in a hurry to get back to the man and kids back in New Jersey. I loved the kitchen stuff most and the way they had their sale and clearance clothing set up, it was almost like looking at some eclectic gypsies messy closet. the rich colors and variety of fabrics is really something to see.

SWAPS! Girl Scout Brownie craft.

So excited to make these! File this under things I didn't know I'd evr get excited about.

Pantry Paint for the kids.

There is nothing worse than hearing my kids tell me there is "NOTHING TO DO". Really? Because let me tell you...the 2 full playrooms we have in this house, say otherwise. So does the backyard with the swing-set/slide/fort combo. Nope. Not having it. I whipped up a batch of PANTRY PAINT as I have named it and had them go out into the driveway in the backyard and play/paint.
It entertained them for about an hour, for me...that's a WIN. I managed to mow the front and back yard while they were creating. K made a painting of Ariel the mermaid and then her little brother A destroyed it. typical :) But, they they had fun dumping out the cups of leftover "paint" afterwards too. Whee. Total cost, $0 since I had both items on hand in my pantry (hence the name), but you can buy corn starch, dish detergent and food coloring for under $4 in most stores.
I made ours using 2 cups of water and 2 cups of corn starch and about 1.5 tablespoons of natural liquid dish detergent (the kind for hand wash not dishwashers. duh) and then played around with different color combinations in paper cups. You could really have fun with this. Hopscotch, basketball shot circles, I even thought about mixing in some of the glow-stick liquid for glow in the dark fun. Maybe a late night hopscotch game?




Ariel!!!
And, the little artist:
ps - what's up with all of the pins on pinterest that don't work? diamond glitter, huh? :)

My garden.

School Lunches.

Preparing school lunches is a big deal in this house. I don't allow just anything into my 6 year olds lunchbox. I like there to be a perfectly balanced meal. I like her to always have a fruit and a veggie. I also only give her a treat on Fridays. It works out for us and I hope she will keep letting me dictate her school lunches for many years to come...and not start with the craze of trading for a friend's Lunchable or Twinkie for god's sake. Oh, especially since Twinkies (and snowballs, and many other snack cakes) CONTAIN BEEF FAT. oh lord. beef fat in cake?! Yes, it's true. Also, we don't eat beef in the house. I like to use reusable containers as much as I can for her lunches. On a rare day I'll use a brown paper bag and give her throwaway bags or plastic wrap with her food. She'll always come home those days and remark on how it was so weird to throw away her lunchbox (and not have to bring utensils or thermos home). A few shots of some lunch stuff:

the band is to keep it closed obviously, but kitty just looks so much more badass with her headband, I love it. What's inside?

If it makes her sing "My mommy is the best", I know I'll try it again.

I've been using up all of the fiance's shaving foam lately...not shaving. I mix it up with food coloring and give it to the kids to play with in the bath. It's so simple and so fun for them.

photo creds: all me except 1st one from here.